


the love this house built

by Misterdevere



Series: what’s life without love [8]
Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Moving In Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:14:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25964932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misterdevere/pseuds/Misterdevere
Summary: Merlin becomes part of the Unwin household
Relationships: Merlin/Gary "Eggsy" Unwin
Series: what’s life without love [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1868476
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	the love this house built

“Merlin’s staying over tomorrow night, mate, that alright?”

“Yeah,” Leo answered disinterestedly, caught up in some game or another. “Don’t really know why you don’t just move in together, to be honest.”

“What d’you mean?”

“I mean it’s always either him staying here or you staying at his or spending the whole evening together and just going to your own houses to sleep, you might as well just live together at this point.”

“Yeah, well, it’s nice to have our own spaces. Nice for you to have your own space. And his house is really convenient for work, and this place is great for your school and I don’t wanna give it up. We don’t really need to live together, things work as they are.”

Leo shrugged. “If you say so.”

He was right though. Merlin was often there late into the evening, the pair cuddling on the sofa and watching films or taking in sunsets in the garden while Leo did his homework or played video games. They shared a blanket on the bench outside as the nighttime chill crept in and Eggsy let out a little laugh under his breath. “Leo was saying he don’t get why we don’t just move in together.”

Merlin was quiet for a moment and Eggsy was about to apologise. “Well. Why don’t we?”

“What?”

“Why don’t we move in together? Is it such a bad idea?”

Eggsy moved away and turned to face him properly. “You’re serious?” Merlin nodded with a small shrug. “But Leo’s school and your work, and we love this house and you love yours.”

“I love _you_ more. I’m happy as things are but if we wanted to...this place is only a little bit further away from work, if you’re home most of the time it wouldn’t be a problem if I can’t make it back at lunch for Mavis, I could drop Leo to school and pick him up sometimes. I would never permanently invite myself into your home or Leo’s space but if practicalities are all that’s making you hesitate, we can work around them. And if you or Leo don’t want me to or you’re not ready yet, what we have right now is working so far.”

“I would love you to. It would be a big change, though.”

Merlin hummed. “What about a trial period? We could try it out for a couple of weeks and see how it goes?”

“To me, this would be a step towards you being a parent to him. Are you sure you wanna do that?”

Merlin nodded slowly. “I am.”

Eggsy pulled him in for the most thorough of snogs. “I’m really glad I met you.”

“So am I.”

Eggsy chatted with Leo over dinner the following night. “You were right about me and Merlin. We talked about it and we decided that we’d try having him move in with us for two weeks and see how it goes. We didn’t decide when we wanna do that though, we both want it to be whenever you’re comfortable with it.”

“But I’m guessing soon, right?”

“Not necessarily, we’re happy as we are. I’m just saying we’re ready to give it a go when you are, alright?”

“Could it maybe be next month? At the end, maybe? Kinda don’t want it to overlap with half term in case it don’t go that well and we’re stuck with each other all the time. And if it does, kinda want it to just be us for a bit longer.”

“Course, mate. Whatever you want. You know if we do this though, Merlin’s not a guest in the house. He’s gonna be enforcing the rules and you have to do what he says.”

“Well, not whatever he says.”

“Pretty much, yeah. I’m not double-checking every decision he makes, that’s not how it’s gonna work if he ends up living with us permanently. I know it might take some getting used to but that’s how it’s gotta be.”

“Fine.”

“Do not be a nightmare for him.” Eggsy gave him a stern look. “If you don’t want him living with us, just say so, don’t let him move in and then cause trouble.”

“I won’t! But he doesn’t get to be crazy strict and bossy either.”

“Have you met him? He’s the most chilled out bloke on the planet, he won’t be unless he has to be.”

Merlin moved in almost six weeks later and things started pretty well. Merlin and Leo clashed from time to time as they both adjusted to his new position of authority but that was to be expected. The second week, however, looked set to cut short any plans.

Eggsy actually had to go into work and had late meetings before a campaign launch so Merlin was in charge. Leo popped his head into the living room in a hurry. “Hey, I’m going to the park.”

“I don’t think so, lad.”

“What?”

“You have a morning detention, you’re not going out all evening.” Merlin checked his watch. “It’s past 7, however late you’re planning to stay out is too late.”

“I just wanna go out for like half an hour.”

“Do you think I wasn’t a teenager once? Do you think I don’t know you’ll be back at 9 and say you lost track of time? No.”

Leo shrugged. “I’ll just ask dad then.”

Merlin sighed. “No, you won’t. If your dad thinks I’m making the wrong decisions, he’ll tell me, but you are not playing us off against each other. You’re not going, end of.”

“Fuck sake, why don’t you just fuck off?”

Merlin narrowed his eyes at him. “Oh no, lad, you don’t talk to me like that. Your dad doesn’t mind you swearing so neither do I but you know as well as I do that he would not stand that kind of disrespect, and neither will I. If you don’t like what I’m telling you, you talk to me sensibly but congratulations, you’ve just talked yourself out of going out for the rest of the week.”

“You can’t do that!”

“I absolutely can. Now get back upstairs, you’re not going anywhere.”

Leo stomped off with another mumbled ‘for fuck’s sake’. Not long after Eggsy got home, he was in Leo’s bedroom doorway. “What’s the matter with you? What did I tell you?”

“Can’t remember everything you tell me.”

“Drop the attitude this second. You do as you’re told, whether it’s me telling you or Merlin. And don’t you dare speak to either of us like that, ever, do you understand?”

“He wouldn’t let me go out!”

“You know you’re not allowed to go out the night before a morning detention. If you don’t like it, stop getting the fucking detentions. And that ain’t an excuse. Never, understand?”

“Yes, I understand. He’s tryna ground me for the rest of the week though.”

Eggsy shrugged. “So you’re grounded for the rest of the week. I taught you better than that, don’t think for a second that I’m gonna try and change his mind. What in the world would make you think you can speak to him like that?”

“I don’t like him telling me what to do.”

“Well you’re gonna have to get used to it, mate. You can’t go against any authority that’s not me or a teacher. You know the rules, you can’t just decide you’re not gonna follow them because I’m not the one making you. When I’m not here, you are not in charge. Merlin is, you get me?”

“Yeah.”

“If you don’t want him to stay, you just have to say so. But if this is some way to get him to leave and this is how you choose to go about things, you cannot imagine how disappointed I’m gonna be.”

“It’s not, I’m sorry.”

“It’s not just me you need to apologise to.”

“I know. Is-is he angry?” He’d had enough time to calm down and enough beyond that to get a little scared. He had no idea how Merlin would deal with punishment, no idea what mood he would be in when he spoke to him again, no idea how he would take an apology. He knew he was lucky that his dad was always pretty calm but it made him anxious about how different Merlin might be.

“He’s not happy but it’s fine.”

“Alright.” Leo made his way back downstairs with Eggsy a few steps behind. “Hey, um, I’m really sorry I spoke to you the way I did.” He looked at his own hands as he spoke. “Guess I’m just not used to having other people around and disciplining me and stuff and it kind of slipped out. Didn’t mean to be such a prick, I swear. I promise it won’t happen again.”

“Calm down, lad. Look at me.” Leo finally looked up at him, albeit with a nervous expression on his face. “Now, here’s how I see things: we aren’t always going to get on, sometimes one of us will say or do something that we shouldn’t, but I don’t like grudges. So whenever one of us does something wrong, I want us to apologise properly, I want us to accept the consequences, make sure it’s the last time and move on. Does that sound fair?” Leo nodded. “So it’s okay. I know you’re sorry and you already know you’re grounded for the rest of the week. And I get that this is a big adjustment for you - it is for me too - but I won’t be spoken to like that again so you make sure it’s the last time. Am I clear?”

“Yeah, pretty clear.”

“And we’re good?”

“Yeah, we’re good.” Leo let out a relieved almost-laugh. “Thanks for not getting angry.”

“What would that solve?” Eggsy patted his son on the back as he sloped back off to his room, then went to snuggle up to Merlin. “I hope he really is okay with me. I don’t want to be the parent’s prick boyfriend.”

“You’re all good, love. It really means a lot to me that you’re stepping into this sort of thing.” Eggsy kissed along his jawbone. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The rest of the week went without incident despite Leo being a little grumpy from being cooped up and at the end of it, they decided to make things permanent. It took a couple more weeks for Merlin to get all his stuff packed up, find a tenant for his house and get unpacked at Eggsy’s, and then they were one step closer to being a family.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed a bit of feisty Leo and stern Merlin!
> 
> come and chat to me on tumblr @ misterdevere


End file.
